Page 276 of Every Almost

The Bridge held its breath. Kess stopped working and turned around.

"Wickett."

Nothing.

"Wickett."

No response. Reyna felt her control going. She felt it begin to come apart in her chest as she began to pace for the second time that night.

"That is an order, Charlotte Wickett!" Her voice came out of her at a volume that had never been on this Bridge.

The name went out across the void and into a wide array of headsets both planet-side and shipside.

Nothing came back.

Reyna stood in front of her own chair with her fist clenched around the headset.

She felt a single tear roll down her cheek.

"Charlie." Only quiet responded. "Please."

And then nothing.

Reyna didn't breathe. She stood there, the headset crushed in her fist, waiting for something to come back. A word, or a sound. Charlie's breathing, even. Anything that meant she was still there.

CHARLIE

"Charlie. Please."

Charlie staggered.

It was theplease.Because that wasn't the Captain. That was Reyna, and Charlie had learned by now that she would do just about anything that voice asked her to.

Which was the entire problem.

Because she wanted to. She stood next to three people trapped under a building, and she wanted, so badly, to get up and walk to the shuttle and go to her.

And the truth was, if Reyna saidpleaseone more time, Charlie would not be able to deny her. She could feel it giving already, the soft place opening in her own resolve.

Charlie was not going to let the best thing that ever happened to her talk her into being the kind of person who left.

She looked down at her datapad.

I'm sorry,she thought.I'm so sorry, but if I keep listening to you, I'll do what you're asking. And I just can't.

"I'm sorry, Captain," she said.

And she cut the channel.

REYNA

Softly, Reyna heard words she would never forget.

"I'm sorry, Captain."

Reyna didn't move.

Why is she apologizing?